Disturbed Child
by Ember Mage
Summary: Jazz still doesn't believe in ghosts, that is, until one day, a horrible experience twists her into paranoia.


**Disclaimer:** _Danny Phantom_ belongs to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman.   
  
**Disturbed Child  
  
By Chibi Momoko aka Ming Yi**  
  
  
  
Jasmine Fenton sat at the kitchen table one Monday morning, digging her knife into a waffle bathed in maple syrup. Every morning was the same. Every morning her parents would spring out with another invention of their ghost obsession. Jazz shuddered. It was bad enough that her parents were crazy, but at this level, they were practically INSANE. Ghost catching, ghost trapping, ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. Jazz considered herself the only sane person in the line of Fentons, except she wasn't sure about her little brother Danny. So Danny wasn't obsessed with ghosts, but he was weird to begin with.  
  
"Look, Jazz, it's finished!" trumpeted Jazz's father, Jack.  
  
"Oh, no,"moaned Jazz, rolling her eyes. "What is it now, a hairdryer?"  
  
Jack frowned, holding his new invention up into the air like a priceless gem. "Not _just_ a hairdryer, Jazz, it's the Fenton Ghost Gun! It tracks down ghosts, sucks them out, and can even give you a really nice hairdo."  
  
The hairdryer beeped loudly, and a woman computerized voice droned,"There is a ghost ahead. Go 2 meters and 6 centimeters forward."  
  
Danny, who was busily chewing on his cereal, jumped at the sound of the alarm. He slowly backed away from his father with a paranoid expression. Jazz groaned. All of the Fenton-fancy-especially-made-for-capturing-ghosts tools never worked because they always said that Danny was a ghost. _As if!_ Jazz thought to herself, putting a bite-sized piece of the sugary-sweet waffle into her mouth.  
  
"Ghost!" proclaimed Jack triumphantly, marching forward at where the hairdryer directed.  
  
Jack finally cornered Danny near the kitchen sink. The hairdryer said in its monotone voice,"Ghost located. Initiating suck sequence."  
  
Jack slapped the machine repeatedly, sighing with disappointment. "It's still got a few bugs. Maddie!"  
  
Maddie Fenton, Jazz's mother, arrived on the scene with a screwdriver. "Oh, dear, I told you this was a prototype. Hopefully we'll fix this and will bring it in time before the Science Convention starts this afternoon."  
  
Jazz rolled her eyes in disgust again. Her parents had been preparing for the Science Convention held 2 miles away this whole week. They had been ampering with everyday objects to transform it into a ghost-capturing weapon. Groaning, she grabbed her coat and her car keys.  
  
"Come on, Danny, I'll drive you to school before Dad poisons your innocent mind,"she called, dragging her book bag along with her. "Plus, that'll give them some time to fix up another invention that will never work in a million years."  
  
"Oh, don't be like that, dear,"said Maddie, pulling her goggles over her eyes and tweaking loose bolds here and there. "Have some faith in us."  
  
"I'll put a little more faith in you on not believing in ghosts,"grumbled Jazz, walking over to her car with Danny jogging along behind her.  
  
~*~  
  
"Aw, Jazz, don't be so mean,"said Danny in a soothing voice. "What's with you every morning? You're always so cranky about ghost inventions."  
  
Jazz glared at Danny. "Well, of COURSE! Do you want to be an outcast in the social activity? Everyone thinks I'M the one that's weird because I have an INSANE family fondling over what DOESN'T EXIST!"  
  
"Look out!" Danny lunged for the steering wheel and suddenly Jazz released her grip screaming. The car skidded away, missing a truck by inches.  
  
"Oh, sorry about that,"replied Jazz, averting her eyes to the road and recovering from her shock quickly. "Back to our topic. You probably don't care about your image because you hang out with a crazy geek who can sense meat and some goth girl."  
  
"Well, yeah, 'cause they're my friends." Danny shrugged.  
  
Jazz shook her head. "You are so clueless, Danny. You should be more alert."  
  
~*~  
  
At Casper High, Jazz met up with her group of friends. The good side was that they didn't know about her family's sick obsession over ghosts. They were normal. Sane. Had families that would play board games or bake apple pies instead of creating wacky tools to help catch poltergeists. Jazz sometimes envied their normal lives, but she figured, her family is what makes of her.  
  
"Hi, Fenton-san,"greeted Ami, her voice dripped in a Japanese accent. Ami was a foreign exchange student from Tokyo that Jazz was helping. So far, Ami learned about American cultures of greeting each other.  
  
"Hi, Ami,"replied Jazz, waving as she shut the door of her shiny car. "Hi, Lina. Hi, Tella."  
  
The group exchanged hellos and hugs. Jazz kept an eye on her sibling, Danny, has he slapped high-fves wih Tucker Foley and Sam Manson. Sam was fine if you didn't mind her "individuality", but Tucker was downright weird. He was always getting them into trouble. _Must be some bad luck streak_, figured Jazz.  
  
As Danny was blabbing about his morning, Jazz noticed that Sam was staring blankly at Danny, nodding and agreeing to everything he said. Everyone except Danny had known Sam liked him since forever. Jazz had confronted Danny about this many times, but her brother, being very oblivious, would shrug and say,"She's my best friend."  
  
Jazz sighed heavily. She noticed a boy pierced with earrings here and there walk past her, acknowledging her presence by nodding towards her. She smiled and rippled her fingers in a quiet wave. Spike, a goth who was far more suicidal than Sam, was finally able to open up to his parents, after a month of Jazz discussing it with him.  
  
"Fenton-san, is anthing wrong?" asked Ami, waving a hand in front of Jazz's face. Jazz finally snapped out of her thoughts.  
  
"Oh, nothing's wrong,"cried Jazz, waving her hand dismissively. "Ami, you don't need to call me 'Fenton-san', just Jazz is fine."  
  
"All right, Jazz-san,"agreed Ami, giving Jazz a new name.  
  
"So, Jazz, what's new?" asked Tella, smiling cheerfully.  
  
"Everything's the same,"said Jazz. "My family is weird, and they're getting weirder by the minute."  
  
"I know,"agreed Lina. "My little sister is like, SO annoying! I wish I could have different families. Like yours. I mean, your family is so smart and friendly!"  
  
"Trust me,"sighed Jazz. "No, you don't."  
  
~*~  
  
That afternoon, Danny ran off to the library to do some reseach with his friends, or so he says. He would have to get a ride home himself. Jazz fumbled with her keys and managed to unlock the front door. The hall was dark and empty, unlike every other day.  
  
"Mom? Dad?" asked Jazz, nervously setting a foot in. The room was quiet. Too quiet.  
  
"Mom...? Dad....?" repeated Jazz, slowly walking inside. A thump was heard. Jazz jumped up at the sound of the noise and shivered. At any time, she expected her parents to pop out screaming,"We've located another GHOST!"  
  
But there was nothing. No one popped out, no banging sounds of a weapon being created, and not even the sound of Jack's snoring. Jazz bit her lip. Why had she suddenly felt so cold? She hugged herself and tried to create friction by rubbing her sleeves onto her arms. She waited for something, like a smoke bomb, to appear, or even a "Get her, Maddie!" But still, nothing came. Jazz frantically started looking for her family around the house.  
  
"Dad?! Danny?!" yelped Jazz, hurrying down to the basement. _They're usually in there, waiting for some ghost_, Jazz told herself, opening a door and running down the steps. All she found was no one, besides a cave that glowed green. Why hadn't she been down there before? Was it because she was afraid that ghosts would pop out and get her? No, of course not. She was no 'fraidy cat. It's just that she didn't want to believe in ghosts, that's it. Her footsteps echoed uncertainly over the tile floors. At every sound she did not make, she jumped up and screamed.  
  
"Danny, is that you? Stop it, Danny! I'll tell Mom!" Jazz backed away from the green portal as it flashed brightly.  
  
_Oh, they're at that stupid Science thing!_ Jazz convinced herself no one was there except her. _Danny's at the library, and I'm here alone... with the... no, don't be stupid, ghosts don't exist! Dad's tried to lure ghosts out of this portal and it's never been successful!_  
  
The glowing was getting brighter at the moment, Jazz frantically looked for a weapon, like a chair, or a broom, or hopefully one of the crazy inventions her parents made. She slowly backed away, shuddering. Why did it feel so cold? Why was she becoming paranoid? Had she lost her mind?  
  
"Stay... away... I'm warning you!" yelled Jazz, trying to sound as brave as possible, but her last word came out as a squeak. The portal burst out a large woman with a kitchen knife dripped in blood.  
  
Jazz reached for something, but found nothing. The woman spotted the girl, flying forward. Her putrid odor flowed out around the room. Her eyes were glazed over as she yelled,"I... will... kill you! Or my name is not Mandy Plitkon, the murderer!"  
  
"You don't want to hurt me, please don't hurt me, please, please, please,"whimpered Jazz, looking around for an idea, or at least something that would stop the ghost from putting her to a bloody death. As the ghost raised her knife, Jazz let out a scream.  
  
And she blacked out. Right after a familiar figure leapt up.  
  
~*~  
  
Jazz woke up in her room, sprawled over her bed. _Was that a dream?_ she asked heself. _Are my parents right? She tried to kill me!_ The events flooded back in her mind, and Jazz couldn't help wonder why her savior looked familiar, even when the details were fuzzy. A knock shattered her thoughts. She'd have to think about this later.  
  
"Hey, Jazz, I brought some soup,"said Danny, his voice ringing out merrily, carrying a tray with a steaming bowl. "Chicken noodle soup, your favorite."  
  
Jazz gasped, recognizing the face, and pointed at Danny. "IT WAS YOU..." 


End file.
